Search for seafarers names from crew lists

Mariners named on crew lists

The CLIP crew names database contains transcription of entries in crew list documents. This search engine provides a flexible system to search the data and presents results with the detail you need to find the seafarer you are looking for.

You can then look at a particular entry in more detail, with CLIP comments and explanation alongside the raw data. We transcribe 'as seen', so our comments include probable expansions of abbreviations.

One item of data on a crew list is potentially extremely useful: most entries show the previous ship that the seafarer worked on, so you can trace their career backwards. To do this, you need to track down the crew lists for that previous vessel. To do that, you will need to know her official number - a unique identifier which distinguishes ships of the same name and which is widely used by archives to catalogue crew list holdings. The CLIP system will provide you with likely matches, using our vessels database (the largest and most comprehensive database of British registered ships) with further information and links to help you find the crew lists.

Where is this data from?

The data is taken from the crew lists and agreements which are held at:

Anglesey Archives - port of Beaumaris, 100% complete.

Devon Archives Service - Devon ports and vessels with a Devonshire connection, 100% complete, including data from photocopies which they hold.

National Library of Wales - port of Aberystwyth, 100% complete, data transferred from transcripts made by NLW volunteers.

Portsmouth Records Office - ports of Portsmouth and Cowes, about 75% complete, ships with names starting A to P.